The QPS is implementing reform and transformative change in our responses to DFV and Sexual Violence.
Transforming our response to domestic and family violence and sexual violence
The Queensland Police Service (QPS) is working to address recommendations made by the Independent Commission of Inquiry into QPS responses to domestic and family violence, the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce’s (the Taskforce) 'Hear her voice' reports, the Mazerolle Review and other related reports and inquest recommendations.
QPS recognises the role it plays in these significant community issues and is committed to improving its response to domestic and family violence and sexual violence.
Work to implement recommendations addresses a number of areas, including:
- Recruiting personnel to increase capability in service areas which deal with DFV across the state as well as our frontline policing response
- Increasing engagement and partnership with vulnerable groups and sector agencies to improve relationships and the whole-of-sector response, with particular focus on First Nations and LGBTIQ groups as well as rural and remote areas
- Developing and reviewing training programs relating to management of DFV programs that increase competence and confidence whilst improving critical thinking and decision making
- Increasing the use and availability of technology to improve intelligence gathering and efficiency in attending to DFV incidents whilst also improving outcomes for victim-survivors
- Reviewing and updating our processes and procedures to be more contemporary, reflective of current policing requirements, and more appropriate to the needs of victim-survivors.
This work is complex and challenging but the QPS is committed to producing meaningful outcomes that improve outcomes for victim-survivors, result in accountability for perpetrators and enhance community safety while supporting our frontline staff with business efficient solutions.
- Find out about the broader Police and Emergency Services Reform Program
- QPS information on domestic violence and sexual assault
A Call for Change
In November 2022, the Independent Commission of Inquiry into QPS responses to domestic and family violence delivered its report, ‘A Call for Change’, and companion report, ‘Behind the Call for Change’, to Government. It made 78 recommendations for reform, concentrated on the QPS, but also touching on broader domestic and family violence systemic issues.
The Government accepted in principle all 78 recommendations and announced an initial $100 million investment to progress priority initiatives under the reform program. The reforms address structural, systemic, disciplinary and cultural improvements to the QPS and reforms to the wider sector.
The Queensland Police Service, along with a number of other agencies including the Police and Emergency Services Reform Program Office, Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee, Crime and Corruption Commission, and Department of Justice and Attorney-General, are working to implement the recommendations.
The first Domestic and family violence reform: a pathway forward for change annual report was released on 14 December 2023.
The report provides a progress update on implementation of the 78 recommendations with 21 delivered and numerous other recommendations expected to be delivered in the next 12 months.
Many of the recommendations from A Call for Change intersected and overlapped with reviews and reports from other ongoing reform programs aimed at tackling DFV, such as the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce (WSJT) reforms currently underway.
Extensive work to map related recommendations has provided a holistic understanding of the changes required and identified opportunities to create efficiencies in the delivery of the remaining recommendations.
Hear her voice (Reports 1 and 2)
Hear her voice;- Report 1 addresses coercive control and domestic and family violence in Queensland. The report was released on 2 December 2021 and identified fundamental systemic and structural issues in Queensland’s justice system relating to its approach to matters of domestic and family violence, making 89 recommendations for broad systemic reform. The Queensland Government response was released in May 2022, supported by a $363 million funding commitment for implementation of recommendations by responsible agencies. The government supported or supported in principle all 89 recommendations.
Hear her voice - Report 2 addresses women's and girls' experience across the criminal justice system and was released in July 2022. It made 188 recommendations for government to improve women's and girls' experiences of the criminal justice system as victim-survivors of sexual violence and as accused persons and offenders.
In November 2022, the Queensland Government released its response, supporting 103 recommendations in full, 71 recommendations in principle, and noting 14 recommendations. A $225 million funding package was committed to implementing the responses being led across government.
Ms Cathy Taylor was appointed as the permanent Independent Implementation Supervisor (IIS) in March 2023 to oversee implementation of the government response. Visit the Queensland Government’s response to the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce recommendations to read more on its reform priorities or track progress.
The Mazerolle Review
In November 2021, Professor Lorraine Mazerolle was engaged as Chief Investigator to undertake an independent review of the current arrangements for the investigation and oversight of police-related deaths and domestic family violence deaths.
Professor Mazerolle acknowledged in her final report that two other commissions of inquiry – the Commission of Inquiry relating to the Crime and Corruption Commission, by the Honourable Tony Fitzgerald AC QC and the Honourable Alan Wilson QC, and the Independent Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Service responses to domestic and family violence – were also underway and had intersecting terms of reference, extensive resources and coercive powers which informed the scope of work and Terms of Reference.
The Mazerolle Review delivered its final report on 12 July 2022 making 12 recommendations in relation to investigative mechanisms: seven relating to deaths in police custody in the course of police operations, and five for domestic and family violence deaths with prior police contact.
Visit Independent review into investigations of police-related deaths and DFV deaths in Queensland for more information.
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